How Does Microsoft Avoid Being the Next IBM? (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: For fans of the platform, the official confirmation that Windows on phones isn't under active development any longer -- security bugs will be fixed, but new features and new hardware aren't on the cards -- isn't a big surprise. This is merely a sad acknowledgement of what we already knew. Last week, Microsoft also announced that it was getting out of the music business, signaling another small retreat from the consumer space. It's tempting to shrug and dismiss each of these instances, pointing to Microsoft's continued enterprise strength as evidence that the company's position remains strong. And certainly, sticking to the enterprise space is a thing that Microsoft could do. Become the next IBM: a stable, dull, multibillion dollar business. But IBM probably doesn't want to be IBM right now -- it has had five straight years of falling revenue amid declining relevance of its legacy businesses -- and Microsoft probably shouldn't want to be the next IBM, either. Today, Microsoft is facing similar pressures -- Windows, though still critical, isn't as essential to people's lives as it was a decade ago -- and risks a similar fate. Dropping consumer ambitions and retreating to the enterprise is a mistake. Microsoft's failure in smartphones is bad for Windows, and it's bad for Microsoft's position in the enterprise as a whole.

Comments

Too much money ...

[CaptainDork]

... killed IBM and Microsoft and Mobil Oil.

I worked for Mobil. They bought their own insurance company and became self-insured and got into the business/consumer insurance business. They also got into real estate. They built Reston, Va. from the ground up.

They also bought Montgomery Ward and stuff.

Now they are gone, absorbed by Exxon.

--

Too much money causes businesses to look for ways to spend the cash in pursuit of CEO and shareholder greed.

Today's capitalism calls for asymptotic growth in periods measured in nanosecomds.

In this regard, Apple is next.

Apple has more ash than God and has no visionary (Jobs) to guide them as to how to spend it.